Chapter 257: Bring Dan Bai Back
“Real Person, Yu Ning is dead.”
Real Person Yuyao, who had been meditating with her eyes closed, finally showed a flicker of emotion upon hearing those words. She opened her eyes, and her icy gaze fell on the Yaochi disciple before her.
“Didn’t she lay down the Juexian Grand Array for the Sword Pavilion Patriarch? She still ended up dead?! Do you know how exactly she died? A Void Fusion Stage Four shouldn’t go out without so much as a sound.”
Under that stare, the disciple felt like her blood was freezing. Yu Ning had been one of Real Person Yuyao’s trusted followers— But now that she was gone, Yuyao reacted as though a Yaochi dog had died.
There was no sadness for a dead dog. Only one question: how did the dog get beaten to death?
This disciple knew that perfectly well. She understood Yaochi's cruelty— and since she now lived in Yaochi, she too had become part of that cruelty.
“Yu Ning died instantly. Her soul was shattered in a blink. From the soul lamp, we can tell it was done by a single thread of sword intent. She didn’t have time to escape or even call for help.”
“Trash,” Yuyao snorted coldly.
If they couldn’t get a Celestial-grade pill, then they’d pile on the High-grade and Supreme-grade ones— Eventually, quantity would lead to quality.
The plan to craft the Vessel had originally been going smoothly. But then the only Celestial-grade Hunyuan Heaven-Mending Pill in existence was inexplicably stolen. Another one was near-impossible to find, forcing her to switch to a backup plan.
As for the Sword Pavilion Patriarch? He was just a clown jumping around. She’d deal with him after the possession was done.
A flash of cold glint appeared in Yuyao’s eyes. She glanced sideways at the Yaochi disciple. “Go. Bring Danyun to me.”
“I told you—I’ve done my best!”
“Hunyuan Heaven-Mending Pills are hard to refine to begin with. One success out of ten furnaces is considered lucky. Two pills out of ten being usable is divine intervention! If you want mortal-grade pills, I can make you some. But if you’re asking for celestial-grade— you might as well kill me now!”
Yuyao stared at the crazed woman before her—hair a mess, actions erratic. Her lips curved into a cold smile.
“Danyun, don’t think I don’t know you’ve been failing on purpose. I didn’t push it before because my need for the pills wasn’t urgent. But now? Let’s settle the bill for all the resources you’ve wasted over the years.”
Danyun smiled faintly and said nothing—just pointed at Yuyao’s face.
“Old hag, what, trying to copy my white hair now? Getting anxious because your lifespan’s about to run out?”
“Listen, you gotta accept aging. Stop taking Beautifying Pills—they’re pointless. Once you die, your body’s still gonna rot and stink like everyone else’s.”
Every word Danyun spoke was like a knife. But Yuyao didn’t get angry.
Those insults didn’t hurt her even one-thousandth as much as the theft of that Celestial-grade pill. She didn’t fear becoming a hated figure in history. She feared not becoming an immortal, and eventually watching her lifespan fade away.
“Danyun. I’ve found your daughter—Dan Bai.”
That single sentence wiped the smile off Danyun’s face.
A cold spark flared in her eyes. But she still scoffed and pointed at Yuyao again.
“You couldn’t find my concealment array all these years, and now suddenly you ‘found’ her? Save it for the kids.”
“It wasn’t me who found the array,” Yuyao said, watching Danyun’s face turn pale. “Your daughter came out on her own.
She’s in the depths of the Ten Thousand Mountains. For some reason, she ran from her hiding place.
Had she stayed put, your illusion array was solid enough that I couldn’t have found her before I reached the Triple Tribulation Realm.
Yuyao waved her hand.
A sharp vine flicked across Danyun’s forehead, extracting a drop of blood and dropping it into the formation disk held by the Yaochi disciple beside her.
The golden sand within the disk began to swirl, outlining the terrain of the Ten Thousand Mountains. The drop of blood sank into the map, floating steadily in place.
“I’ve been watching the threads of fate day and night for this exact moment!”
Yuyao saw the despair and fury in Danyun’s eyes and smiled like a victor.
“What are you going to do? Come at me! Leave my daughter out of this—she knows nothing!” Danyun struggled madly, her hoarse voice squeezing out from between her teeth like a dying mother beast.
“Maybe she really does know nothing,” Yuyao said, lightly brushing the corner of the formation disk. “I don’t have anything personal against your daughter. I just want her to come and stay at Yaochi Holy Land for a while.
And as for you, Danyun— you will refine at least a High-grade Hunyuan Heaven-Mending Pill for me.”
Yuyao suddenly leaned close, right into Danyun’s face—now twisted with rage and despair. She spoke each word clearly:
“One month. I’ll give you one month.
Refine the pill—your daughter lives.
Fail—your daughter dies.”
With that, Yuyao didn’t spare her another glance. She waved her hand, ordering Danyun dragged away and locked up again.
They had captured Danyun years ago solely to make her refine Hunyuan Heaven-Mending Pills.
But a recipe alone wasn’t enough. You needed a special physique, and special technique.
Danyun had both. And she had deliberately made mistakes to delay Yaochi’s plans.
In decades, she had produced only 32 pills— just one was High-grade, the rest all mortal-grade.
It wasn’t until Yuyao got curious one day and examined Danyun’s blood that she found it contained the potency of High-grade pills— that’s when she realized the old fox had been playing her all along.
Danyun was perfectly capable of refining High-grade and even better pills.
Her skills and talent were real. Yaochi had gathered the best ingredients. Even if she messed up on purpose, she’d still occasionally get a high-quality pill.
And every time one succeeded, Danyun ate it herself. When caught, she wouldn’t admit a thing.
If memory loss weren’t a risk in soul possession, Yuyao would’ve had one of her elders seize Danyun’s body already to extract every last secret.
“Present!” Two figures stepped out from the sea of blossoms, standing behind her.
“You two—one Void Fusion Stage Five, one Stage Six—are considered unstoppable in the Cangyun Realm. Now go bring back that little wretch Dan Bai. Any questions?”
Yuyao passed the formation disk, still holding Danyun’s blood, to Yuling.
“Of course not, Real Person. The only reason we couldn’t catch her before was because she never left hiding. Now she’s running around in the open— grabbing her will be easy.”
A sinister smile twisted Yuling’s normally kind-looking face.
“Don’t get cocky. If you run into any of those old freaks from Zhenwu Holy Land, it could still get dangerous.”
The two elders bowed in agreement.
A starved camel was still bigger than a horse— until the final split from Fanjing was complete, Zhenwu’s Void Fusion elders were still a serious threat.
Yuyao turned away, her figure vanishing into the shadows. Only a cold voice lingered in the air:
“If we can force Danyun to refine the Hunyuan Heaven-Mending Pill for us…
Then in the future, your dantians will also be improved.
And when the time comes—ascending to immortality may not be just a dream.”